After a couple of years without competition, the Amazon Echo smart speaker finally has a direct rival in the Google Home. We've taken a look at the key features of both products to help you decide which one is right for you.

After spending time with both the Amazon Echo and the Google Home, we're happy tell you that both smart speakers deliver excellent sound quality for their form factor. You'll get loud and crisp sound from each offering, as well as a perfectly tuned microphone for hearing your voice commands.

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You Can Customize Google Home

As far as looks go, you'll be pleased with both the Google Home and the Amazon Echo — each speaker has a sleek design that'll easily blend in with just about any interior setting. Thanks to its interchangeable base that's available in a multitude of colors and textures (fabric or metal), the Google Home scores extra style points. The Amazon Echo is only available in black or white.

Alexa Has More Skills (For Now)

With over 15,000 skills to choose from, the Amazon Alexa-powered Echo speaker has an edge over the Google Home. At least for the time being, you can do more with an Echo, so long as you take the time to set it up with the skills of your choosing.

The cool thing about the Google Home and the Google Assistant is that you don't need to "enable" anything to access most of its functionality. All you have to do is download the Google Home app on your smartphone (available for iOS and Android) and connect your account to the device.

Powered by the tech giant's neural network, the Google Assistant is much better at answering questions than Alexa, so it's a lot more fun and interactive to use. It's also much better at handling follow-up inquiries. We're all but certain that the Google Assistant will only get better, thus giving the Home speaker an advantage over the Amazon Echo.

A recent update gave Google Home the ability to work with up to six separate user accounts — and it can recognize every user by voice. The Amazon Echo can also work with multiple accounts, but it won't recognize users by voice, though it gives you the option to switch accounts, as well as check which accounts you're using via a voice command.

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Both Are Good at Home Automation

This used to be an area where Amazon Alexa had a serious advantage over the Google Assistant. However, Google has improved its virtual assistant's home automation compatibility a great deal over the past few months. Now you can use the Google Home speaker to control smart home products that use the commonly used automation standards.

Google Home is Better at Multimedia

You can use both the Amazon Echo and the Google Home to play your favorite music from Spotify and other popular streaming services. Unsurprisingly, the Echo won't work with Google Play Music. The same goes for the Google Home's inability to work with Amazon Music Unlimited.

Thanks to its built-in Chromecast, the Google Home is overall a more capable option for handling multimedia. You can cast content on a compatible TV, streaming device, or speaker via a simple voice command. There's also the option to use the smart speaker in a multiroom setup.

You Can Shop with Both

Naturally, you can use your Amazon Echo to buy anything that Amazon has to offer — the functionality works like a charm and it's incredibly convenient. The Google Home allows you to make purchases from Google Express partners like Costco, Walgreens, and Target, among many others.

There Are More Amazon Echo Products to Choose From

Amazon offers more Echo products, so it's giving you more hardware choices than Google for the time being. You can opt for a more affordable Echo Dot that you can use with an existing speaker of home audio system, or spend a bit extra on an Amazon Echo Show with a built-in touchscreen and even more functionality.

By partnering with a number of tech companies, Google will expand the availability of its virtual assistant to even more products, including smart TVs, streaming devices, and more wireless speakers in the coming months.

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Wrap-Up

The Amazon Echo and the Google Home smart speakers are both excellent, so it's pretty much impossible to make a bad choice here. If you're heavily invested in Amazon Prime and all the services it brings, perhaps you'll appreciate the Echo a bit more. However, the seamless way in which the Google Home lets you tap into the search giant's vast trove of knowledge is also rather impressive, as are its multimedia capabilities.

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